


Getting Better

by Typey



Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-13
Updated: 2013-04-13
Packaged: 2017-12-26 11:44:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/965552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Typey/pseuds/Typey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's always nice to have someone take care of you when you're sick, and it's always a nice surprise to find out someone wants you to be that caregiver.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Getting Better

Myka awoke, groggy and disoriented. The lack of light from the window told her it was still the middle of the night, and she wasn’t feeling much better than she had all day.

The flu had taken a toll on all of them — all of them but Helena. Artie blamed Pete and Steve for bringing the virus back with them after a trip to Chicago to snag, bag and tag. An explanation about temperature changes in spring in big cities plus something delirious about the river not knowing how to get rid of its bugs since it was forced to flow backward.

No one had paid much attention to him about that, or to his ramblings about Helena’s absence of any symptoms and how an unvaccinated Victorian trapped in bronze shouldn’t be able to walk around the 21st century with an iron constitution.

Beyond Artie’s fever-induced conspiracy theories, though, the fact remained that almost all of them were sick. Very, very sick. Leena had looked ragged before shutting the door to her room, and Artie had grumbled that he was going to wait it out in the Warehouse — he was sure that he’d start feeling better just in time for someone else to get him sick again. Pete and Steve had each retreated to his own room to whimper in solitude. Boys.

Helena had stayed with Myka until she’d fallen asleep, but she wasn’t currently in their room. The door was open — maybe Helena would be back soon? Myka heard the whine in her own head but didn’t have the energy to reprimand herself for it — and she contemplated simply falling back to sleep.

Instead she gingerly untangled her legs from the pile of blankets Helena had tucked around her and set overly warm feet on the cold floor. She paused to gather both her strength and her focus before deciding on a destination. Stairs were out of the question. Maybe she’d just poke her head in on Claudia down the hall and check on the youngest member of their team, the one the rest of the family sometimes forgot wasn’t really as adult as she liked to pretend.

She pointed herself in the direction of the door and unfolded into to a mostly upright position. Shuffling slowly, she made it to the hallway and turned right toward Claudia’s room. The door there was ajar, as well, and Myka eased it open. Stepping softly across the threshold, she searched for Claudia’s shape in the bed.

And saw Helena reclining against the headboard, eyes closed and with one arm draped along Claudia’s side and the other hand resting on the young woman’s head. Her hand was still but she’d obviously been carding through the short hair, and tufts of red stuck up between slim, pale fingers.

Myka wasn’t sure how long she’d been watching, leaning against the doorframe, but it was long enough to have added yet another item to a particular mental list she kept: reasons Helena G. Wells deserved happiness. She was sure that Helena kept her own list itemizing every act she deemed to require atonement, and Myka hoped to over time convince Helena that the mere existence of the former list rendered the latter unnecessary. Helena needed her memories — of her own Warehouse, of Christina, and even of her near-disastrous re-entry into the world from the Bronze Sector — but Myka wished she could show Helena that any repentance owed had been more than fully paid.

Bringing herself back to the moment, Myka glanced up at Helena’s face and saw two sleepy and serene eyes looking back. Glad of the darkness and her fever to obscure the flush rising on her cheeks at having been caught creeping around in the dark while Helena and Claudia slept, Myka walked toward the bed.

The hand on Claudia’s head reached out, and Myka gladly took it in her own. A light tug instructed her to lean down a bit, and Helena let go to reach up and check her forehead for fever.

“You’re still warm, darling, despite wandering around without a sweater or one of those ‘hoodies’.” Helena’s whisper was full of concern.

“I’ll be fine. I’m a big girl.” Myka got the expected eyebrow-raise for that comment, but she returned it with a half-smile. “How long have you been in here with her?”

Helena looked down at the woman curled under her arm; Claudia was nestled into her side with an arm hugging her waist. Myka couldn’t quite name the emotion in Helena’s eyes, and realized it was a whole range of them. Worry and love and tenderness were mixed with sadness and guilt.

Myka knelt at the side of the bed, a little less gracefully than she would ever admit, and looked up at Helena until the other woman met her eyes.

“She loves you, you know. And she never would have let any of the rest of us in here to hold her. You are a mother, and she needed that tonight. She needs that forever.” 

Helena turned her head, and Myka was sure she was trying to hold back tears. She held the hand resting next to her on the bed, and Helena gripped hers back.

“I will not encourage Claudia to treat me any differently than she does the rest of you. I will not presume to take a role for her that she does not want for me. And I will not..”

“I love you, H.G., so quiet.” Claudia repositioned her head, tightened her grip on Helena’s waist and breathed deeply, never having opened her eyes. “Can I go back to sleep now? Myka can stay, too, if it means you don’t leave.” She didn’t wait for an answer before snuggling even closer into Helena and seeming to drop back into sleep.

Myka smiled, both at Claudia’s pronouncement and plea and at the stunned expression on Helena’s face. She stood, shakily, and kissed Helena on the forehead before turning to go back to their room. Myka doubted Helena would fall asleep again but was certain it was the only place she would want to be for the rest of the night.


End file.
